Youth Employment Service (YES) desks were gradually established under the local departments and divisions of Labor and Welfare Services, starting in 2017. There are now 31 YES desks operating in all 21 provinces, the nine districts of Ulaanbaatar, and the Municipal Employment Department. These desks offer a number of youth-specific employment services to help job seekers enter the labor market, especially recent graduates who have minimal or no work experience. More specifically, young job seekers receive profile assessments to identify their distance from the labor market, followed by developing their Individual Employment Pathway Planning. Group-based modular training units are offered as part of a collaborative peer support model to help youth gain self-confidence, self-recognition, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and eventually develop their employability skills.
The modular training unit on entrepreneurship and start-ups helps youth to discover, develop, and plan their own business ideas. YES desks have been an integral part of piloting and implementing internship programs designed to help youth transition from school to employment. In 2020-2021, internship programs were implemented in 10 provinces and Ulaanbaatar districts in cooperation with employers and local departments and divisions of Labor and Welfare Services.
Based on a situational analysis of the start-up ecosystem, the Start-up Support Program was developed in 2016 and piloted successfully in eight provinces and two Ulaanbaatar districts from 2016 to 2018. As the pilot program was a huge success, it was approved by the National Employment Council in January 2018, enabling the program’s nationwide replication. The 2021-2022 Youth Employment Service and Start-up Support Program now includes providing financial grants to select start-up teams instead of the previously provided soft loans. The new programs also include piloting the project-initiated internship program in select provinces.
The outcomes of the project can be replicated and continued. SDC is proud to witness project-initiated services and activities being fully integrated into the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection’s current youth employment promotion programs, and YES desks are now part of the structure of public employment offices.
